Abstract

Examining some of the most important themes in the social and cultural history of Irish ethnicity and migration, this study concentrates on those who settled in Victorian Cumbria. In later 19th-century Cumbria, Irish settlers were more noticeable than in any region outside Lancashire and Tyneside. These Irish were overwhelmingly from Ulster, with many Protestants among them, which had enormous repercussions for the culture of Irishness as it was manifest in these new communities. Using a broad range of primary materials, the analysis of which is firmly rooted in comparative reference to other writings on the Irish in Victorian Britain, this study creates a picture of Irish settlement. It portrays Orangeism, nationalism, antipathy and communal violence as playing a key role in defining the nature of Irish migrant communities. By arguing that opposing Irish identities were maintained well into the late Victorian years, this text demonstrates that a culture of conflict was also prevalent in Cumbria.